Building Industry Association of Washington
The Building Industry Association of Washington or BIAW is a Washington State section 501© non-profit organizationWashington State Public Disclosure v. BIAW Member Services Corporation formed in 1966 to represent the housing industry in the state of Washington against government interests to regulate their trades. BIAW's membership comprises about 12,500 member companies, home builders, trade contractors, suppliers and industry professionals. Their mission statement is as follows: The Building Industry Association of Washington is the voice of the housing industry in the state of Washington. The association is dedicated to ensuring and enhancing the vitality of the building industry for the benefit of its members and the housing needs of the citizens.To accomplish this purpose, the association's primary focus is to educate, influence and affect the legislative, regulatory, judicial and executive agencies of Washington's government. The Building Industry Association of Washington will offer its membership those services which can best be provided on a state wide basis and will disseminate information concerning the building industry to all association members and the public.About the Building Industry Association of Washington Building Industry Association of Washington Background BIAW is the 3rd largest state association affiliated with the National Association of Home Builders. The BIAW wants lower taxes and fewer regulations, particularly environmental ones. The association wants to be a counterweight to unions and their allies.Bob Young, BIAW, Rossi's biggest backer, explains what it wants Seattle Times Oct 27, 2008 While the name implies trade group, the BIAW is really more like an insurance broker and a very powerful lobby. Leadership *Kyle LaPierre, PresidentIngrid Stegemoeller, Washington's top builder followed dad's path Seattle Times Dec 27, 2008BIAW Leadership Building Industry Association of Washington *Matthew Clarkson, First Vice President *Juli Bacon, Second Vice President *Tom McCabe, Executive Vice President Funding The main source of the BIAW's political money is the state Department of Labor and Industries' Retrospective Rating Program, known as Return on Industrial Insurance Program or Retro.Chris McGann, Democrats eye BIAW cash source Seattle Post-Intelligencer Nov 12, 2008 Through Retro, participating employers can recover a portion of their workers' compensation premiums if they are able to reduce injury rates and lower associated claim costs. Of the 40-some Retro programs in the state, BIAW has the largest. BIAW's Retro group has about 6,000 member companies.Michelle Dupler, Legislative roundup: Senate bill discussion gets testy Tri-City Herald, Mar 13 2009 The BIAW collects 20 percent of the workers' compensation refunds provided by the state to run the insurance program and pay for political work. Legally membership dues cannot be used for political activity but the BIAW claims there are no rules against using insurance refund money for that purpose. This translates into about $3-4 million from the refunds in each of the past few years. In 2009, a computer programming error was uncovered that resulted in the Dept. of L&I refunding $10 million to $15 million more per year more than they were supposed to for the last fifteen years.Mark Fefer, BIAW Turns Out To Be Right About Government Bureaucrats--And Profitably So Seattle Weekly, Feb 10, 2009Steve Pierce, Computer coding error corrected in Retrospective Rating Program L&I News Feb 10, 2009 BIAW-MSC was set up in order to manage the Retro program. BIAW Member Services Corporation (BIAW-MSC) is a wholly owned for-profit subsidiary of BIAW formed in 1993. BIAW-MSC is also used for other profit-making ventures such as selling insurance and educational programs. BIAW also has several PACs, shell PACs and other front organizations - ChangePAC,Joel Connelly, A special interest tarnishes governor's race Seattle Post-Intelligencer Jun 10, 2008Joel Connelly, Outside groups do candidates' dirty work Seattle Post-Intelligencer Oct 27, 2009 Washington Affordable Housing Council, "It's Time for a Change" and "Walking for Washington". Campaign Financing In 2008, the BIAW spent far more supporting Dino Rossi for governor than the Republican party has spent on all races during the year. More than $7 million provided by the BIAW was spent on ads attacking Rossi's opponent, Gov. Christine Gregoire. Rossi's top contributor was the BIAW. The group also spent heavily in 2006 in an unsuccessful attempt to oust state Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry Alexander. The BIAW spent nearly $1 million on the primary campaign.Gregory Roberts, Election 2006: Money is surging through campaigns Seattle Post-Intelligencer Oct 10, 2006 The group's advertisements claimed that John Groen would do a better job of protecting what they claimed to be "our constitutional rights to limited, open and accountable government".Stefan Sharkansky, Gerry Alexander: Awful Chief Justice, dirty campaigner Sound Politics Sep 14, 2006 TV attack ads portraying Justice Alexander as an judge too old for the job were bought by the group.Ralph Thomas, Building-industry ads hammer judge Seattle Times Sep 7, 2006 According to a press release from Justice Alexander, other TV ads for John Groen came from the BIAW, through ChangePac to the PAC "It's time for a Change". The chain of PACs was used in order to hide the top four contributors as required by the PDC.[Press Release: Building Industry's Shell Game Revealed Gerry Alexander campaign, Sep 7, 2006 In 2004, more than $500,000 was spent on independent ads by the BIAW to help Dino Rossi.Chris McGann, Soft money fuels the race for governor Seattle Post-Intelligencer Jun 20, 2008George Howland, Jr. Political Capital [Weekly Nov 17, 2004 Rob McKenna, now Attorney General, received more than $415,000 from the "It's Time for A Change", one of BIAW's PACs. The BIAW gave $150,000 towards getting their former lawyer, Jim Johnson, elected as a State Supreme Court Justice.Lewis Kamb, Meandering money stream feeds ongoing election fight Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Jan 13, 2005 State Supreme Court justice Richard Sanders received $35,000 from the BIAW which is more than one fifth of his re-election expenses.Lewis Kamb, Election case poses many potential conflicts of interest for justicesSeattle Post-Intelligencer Mar 14, 2005 While the BIAW has been massively contributing to Republican candidates, Democratic candidates also have accepted BIAW contributions, such as Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, state Auditor Brian Sonntag, Rep. Deb Wallace, Rep. Marko Liias, Rep. Christine Rolfes, Rep, Al O'Brien, Rep. Pat Sullivan, Rep. Fred Jarrett, Rep. Judy Clibborn, Rep. Deb Eddy, Rep. Ross Hunter, Rep. Liz Loomis, Rep. Larry Springer, Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, Sen. James Hargrove, and Rep. Dave Quall.Chris McGann, Some Dems assail BIAW, take its cash Aug 8, 2008 Legislative and political agenda Opposition to homeowner protection legislation The BIAW opposes regulations that constrain the home builder. They contend that the regulations add additional costs to homes. The industry association has recently engaged in a battle to prevent new home warranty legislation, HB 1391. The legislation would have mandated a warranty for all new residences, as do many other states. In the past, such legislated has been defeated in Washington with the help of the BIAW. The BIAW claims there is no insurance product available to cover builders and that the bill prohibits anyone choosing to waive the implied warranty of habitability. The group also claims that it is simply a new and easier way to sue builders. Heavily amended, the bill passed the House on to the Senate. According to the BIAW, it was defeated there with the help of Democratic Senator Mary Margaret Haugen. A similar bill SB5895, was dubbed the "Homeowner's Bill of Rights", introduced in the Senate by Democrat Sen. Rodney Tom sought to impose warranties on all new homes, mandating third-party inspections prior to closing. The Republicans objected to provision to double the contractor bond from $12,000.00 to $24,000.00. The BIAW worked with the Democratic Speaker of the House Frank Chopp to defeat this legislation. BIAW has put proposals before the Washington State Building Code Council to remove the mandatory statewide fire sprinkler requirement for new homes. On the other hand, the United States Fire Administration in their position paper states that sprinklers should be required: It is the position of the U.S. Fire Administration that all citizens should be protected against death, injury, and property loss resulting from fire in their residence. All homes should be equipped with both smoke alarms and automatic fire sprinklers, and all families should have and practice an emergency escape plan. The USFA fully supports all efforts to reduce the tragic toll of fire losses in this nation, including the proposed changes to the International Residential Code that would require automatic sprinklers in all new residential construction. Pro-property rights The BIAW has opposed a requirement to address climate change in the state's Growth Management Act. The BIAW opposes critical areas ordinances (CAO). Opposition to environmental efforts The BIAW is Washington state's biggest lobby against climate change, open space, and other environmental legislation. The BIAW has been fighting environmental legislation such as solar water heaters in new homes. In 2005, the southern resident orcas were designated an endangered species. In 2006, the BIAW along with the Washington Farm Bureau sued the government to remove orcas from the endangered list. The legal challenge was thrown out of U.S. District Court. In 2007, the group challenged the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that protects threatened and endangered salmon across the West. In 2008, the BIAW, in their newsletter Building Insight, equate environmentalists with “Nazis and terrorists." Opposition to worker protection In 2003, the BIAW ran a signature drive for I-841 to repeal the state's ergonomic regulations and strip the Director of the Department of Labor and Industries of making any further ergonomic rules. The initiative also promised the voters that repeal of the ergonomic regulations would "aid in creating jobs and employing the people of Washington." According to the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal, experts estimated complying with the ergonomics rule would have cost businesses $725 million for the first year alone. At the time, Washington was the only state with an ergonomics rule. In an opposing opinion piece, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer contends that "Initiative 841 runs roughshod over the working public's right to safety, the normal processes of government and the state's power. Instead of fine-tuning ergonomics rules adopted by the state Department of Labor and Industries, the initiative asks voters to bulldoze aside protections against repetitive injuries." The BIAW and its members spent more than $1 million on the initiative. They outspent labor unions opposing it two to one. Anti-union In 2005, the BIAW considered sponsoring a so-called "right-to-work" initiative. Anti-public schools The BIAW-funded Washington Policy Center made budget cut recommendations that reveal another element of BIAW's agenda. The largest cut recommended to Governor Gregoire was a billion dollar cut in public school funding. In 2007, the BIAW helped defeat the Concurrency Requirements for Public Schools bill, SB 6269. SB 6269 would have required that school facilities be available within a certain schedule of new development to prevent school overcrowding. It also called for increased land use and capital facilities planning coordination between cities, counties and local school districts. Anti-tax on builders The BIAW is generally anti-tax, but in 2005 they lobbied for an excise tax to replace so-called "impact fees" that local governments assess on new construction. Anti election reform In the 2006 election, more than $4 million was spent on three state Supreme Court races. To counter this excessive spending, Governor Christine Gregoire allocated money to study the public financing of judges. The BIAW's Tom McCabe came out against this, threatening to sue and calling the idea "blatantly unconstitutional." McCabe contends that public financing of election campaigns "limits rights to free speech for groups like ours and others." Anti Retro-reform The BIAW heavily lobbied against SB 6035. The bill would require groups participating in the Retro program to report how they spend money paid by employers. It passed the Senate by a narrow 25-24 margin. Republicans claimed the bill was an attack on free speech and the BIAW. Retro groups should be able to use refund money as they wish. But Democrats countered that the bill was intended to bring transparency to the system in light of a computer coding error that cost the state untold millions in overstated refunds to the Retro pool. Workman's Comp In 2010, after being unsuccessful with legislation to privatize Washington's state-run workers' single-payer compensation system, the BIAW launched ballot initiative I-1082. The aim was to force the privatization of the single-payer system. Specifically, the initiative was to create a Joint Legislative Task Force on Private Competition for Industrial Insurance. The task force would be charged with developing proposed legislation and make recommendation by December 2011. The Washington Legislature would be required to adopt the legislation by March 1, 2012. Washington state: Builders seek WC reform through ballot initiative I-1082 was defeated in the 2010 general election. Legal agenda The BIAW has participated in filing the following lawsuits: Thurston County BIAW et al v. WWGMHB (Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Boards) et al. The BIAW filed a case that brought down portions of King County’s Critical Areas Ordinance. The Court held the County must now treat each parcel on a case-by-case basis instead of a blanket basis. See also *Retro reform References Category:Organizations based in Washington (U.S. state) Category:Construction Category:1966 establishments